This podcast episode of Coach Cut's Corner delves into the crucial role of mental performance training in athletics, particularly in baseball. Coach Cut, along with assistant coaches Danny Medlock and Jeff Allen, emphasizes the importance of overcoming failure and developing a growth mindset. They discuss how their program focuses on high standards and consistent practices that help athletes evolve and perform at their best, even in challenging situations. The conversation also explores the unique environment of junior college baseball, highlighting it as a second chance for many players to refine their skills and achieve their dreams. Throughout the episode, the coaches share insights on accountability, the importance of genuine communication, and strategies like breathing techniques to maintain focus and composure on the field.

Website: LCC Stars Baseball

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Related Podcast: Stars on Sports 

Hello, friends, and welcome to Coach Cut's Corner, streaming bright from Michigan's capital city.

This podcast is dedicated to helping you better understand the who, the what and the why of mental performance, personal growth, and Lansing Stars baseball.

Down on the Victory Line.

Coach Cut's Corner, brought to you by Eyewash in collaboration with Lansing Community College.

And now, here's your host, Stephen Cutter.

Down on the Victory Loud.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you for tuning in and subscribing.

Each week, I provide insights into our program and inspire you to challenge yourself to become a better you, ultimately helping you enhance your life, just as I have with mine.

Additionally, I offer mental skills coaching to athletes across all levels, from the youth to the professional.

And you can find out more@coachcutter.com we have our two new assistant coaches in the WLNZ studios today.

Danny Medlock and Jeff Allen.

I've been very fortunate to have some great assistant coaches here as the head coach for the Stars.

Guys like Jared Helmick, Jarrett Olson, along with Elijah Boyer and Travis Doyle.

Danny and Jeff have proven to be valuable additions to our staff once again this season, and they look to carry on the solid tradition that we have here with the Stars.

I'm excited to have them in the studios today.

Welcome to the show, fellas.

Thank you for having us.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

Coach Cut, what's your first impressions of the WLNZ studios?

I feel like I always ask that to everybody that comes into the studio.

It's super nice in here.

I've listened a lot, but it's not.

It's kind of cool to be able to put a picture behind what you're listening to.

I feel like in the interview process, that was one of the things that you told me that you'd listen to.

You know, you were a loyal listener to the podcast.

And is it what you thought, where it was coming from?

I kind of goes beyond that, honestly.

It's, you know, I kind of did one in high school, and it was just like a little back office room.

So this is a little bit of an upgrade.

Yeah.

Pretty spacious.

Yeah.

Love that.

Love that.

Let's start with you, Danny.

How about you bring our listeners up to speed on your baseball journey?

So I'm a Waterford kid, originally born and raised out of Waterford Mott High School, where I graduated from.

I went and played at Kansas City, Kansas Community College.

A little bump in the road happened there.

So kind of far away from home.

Wanted to transfer back.

Went to Muskegon Community College for three years.

Yeah, fire up.

Then transferred to Madonna University, where I graduated.

Okay.

And then when did you realize you wanted to get into coaching?

That was my last season at Muskegon Community College.

Okay, what happened?

How'd you.

I was just sitting there.

I was at a facility back home, and I wanted to train.

Kind of just saw people walking around.

I was like, hmm, maybe could spread some knowledge, could help people out, could help translate what I knew.

And also wanted to grow my knowledge of the game of baseball itself.

How about you, Jeff?

Mr.

Up.

Oh, man.

Baseball has kind of taken me all over the place.

So out of high school, I went and played in the same conference that Danny was talking about at Highland Community College.

Had kind of a bump in the road there.

Ended up needing labor surgery.

Like northeast Kansas, so it's quite a ways away.

But tornadoes?

No.

We had a couple warnings, and it scared me pretty bad.

But we had to evacuate a hotel when I was there for a tornado.

Really?

Yeah.

Everyone out in the parking lot.

It was insane.

Which was weird that they put us in the parking lot but get out of the hotel.

Yeah.

But after that, it just kind of rehabbed the arm.

Worked for a little while in the public works department back at home.

Found a program in the UP that was starting their baseball program, and they had the same.

Same degree that I was looking for.

It was water and wastewater management.

So I thought, you know, I'll go and continue playing and get my degree.

And kind of just stuck around there ever since.

I played there through Covid, and then after Covid, just continued to kind of help the guys out.

I came in as kind of an older player.

So I think a lot of those guys kind of looked to me for some advice when it came to the game, and I feel like it kind of made a nice segue into the coaching career.

And where was that point where you realized you wanted to be a coach?

I would say that it started during my rehab process because I was really missing the game and my younger brother was playing baseball, and I just wanted to stay involved in any way that I could.

So I kind of coached the little league team there and still reaching out to schools and ended up finding Bay.

And, you know, from there kind of took on more of a leadership role and then really started studying the game when it came to, like, infield fundamentals and trying to help out however I can.

What brought you guys here?

I don't care who goes first.

You want me to go first?

It does not matter to me.

Well, I've always been interested in the mental game.

I have not really Been able to kind of convey it as well as you can, but it's definitely been a point of interest for me and kind of found you and your podcast and trying to take what I could from that and kind of implement it into the program at bay.

So I think that when I saw that you posted there was a coaching opening, I instantly jumped on it.

I was like, man, I gotta go and be able to learn from this, kind of expand my horizons a little bit.

Yeah, I remember you being pretty driven for it.

And I think we really like that at the junior college level, we do have turnover.

It's not only with players, but it's with coaches.

Coaches are usually short term for the most part, either because of the financial end of it or because they're looking to move on just like the players are, you know.

So it's one of those things where we're trying to bring in the best people for the kids that are here and kind of fit into the growth mindset that we're looking for out of our coaches.

And I think both of you guys check those boxes really well.

Danny, what brought you here?

Well, again, you kind of know a little bit about coaching per time, every step in the road that you take.

But trying to grow my knowledge, honestly, I didn't know much about you or the mental performance side of the game, which starstruck, kind of when I got here, how much information and how useful that can be for the players in their development.

Just.

You're never a finished product, right?

So every year you keep moving forward, you want to gain knowledge, you take what you have and you try to implement that.

But if you think you're a know it all, you're not.

I could tell you that right now.

So just to keep gaining and keep helping, be the best version of yourself every year and take what you can learn every step of the way.

That's solid.

I think as you continue to grow, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you actually know.

You know, and that's kind of the growth mindset.

We are in the middle of our fall season right now.

We certainly have stacked some bricks.

What has it been like coming into our program and in seeing what's happening here with the brick stacking, that's a.

Program like no other.

Honestly, some of the things we do here, like I said, I was taken aback by at first.

You know, it's a learning curve for the players coming in, and you're held to a standard, who you are, where you come from, you're held to a Standard, and that standard doesn't stop for anybody.

We hold our guys to high standards, no matter what it may be, and just keep getting better every day.

That's really what stacking bricks comes down to.

You know, we Talked about that 2% better each and every day.

And that might come from 30 minutes at a time of doing something you're not common to doing.

Right.

And that's uncommon things.

One of our core values, Right?

Yeah.

And I mean, even just.

Just down to the attention to detail, like every single minute of our practices is completely planned out.

I mean, sometimes it doesn't go exactly as planned, and you just kind of got to roll with it.

But I think just the attention to detail and the fact that the players have that to kind of look at and mentally prepare themselves for for that day, I think that's.

That's huge.

You know, when you go into a practice with some sort of uncertainty or like, okay, well, what are we doing today?

It's.

It's kind of hard to perform to your.

To your maximum capabilities.

I think that we're not the best, and I believe that we're striving to be the best.

And I think with that understanding that we're not the best, it helps with that striving piece and the motivation piece, and we are detailed, and we do have high standards.

We also understand that not everybody is going to be able to get to all those standards.

But by having high standards, you're getting people to shoot for the moon, and if they miss, like the saying says, you're going to fall amongst the stars, which is fitting for us as well.

But it's one of those things where there are a lot of great things here, and it's been built by.

Because we have a lot of great people here, and we also have a lot of great technology.

And you combine technology with people, great things can happen.

And it's not just about having a program that's been solid for a long time, not just about having a program that's number two in the country and win percentage over the last three years.

It's about the people, and it's about the understanding that we're not the best, but we are trying to be the best, and we're trying every day.

And if we can provide consistency for our student athletes, at least helps them have some norms that they can rely on.

They know when things are happening long in advance, you know, and it's sometimes tough to be in an environment where there are so many standards, where there is a high standard.

It's Challenging, but we try to teach.

And I think you guys have seen, too, that it's one of those things where if you're holding people accountable, that's the best way to grow.

Absolutely.

You know, and so it's just a.

It's more of a consistency, and that's where the.

I'll say things like consistency is a superpower, you know, and that's where it comes from.

What do you guys think of when you hear the G word now?

Because that the.

The G word has been something that has somewhat taken out a new life of its own.

And it came with a thought process of basically just rewiring the brains, because that's what we're trying to do here.

We're shooting for excellence.

We're trying to rewire the brain into thinking differently.

It's no different than you going home tonight and you brushing your teeth with your opposite dominant hand.

Not with your dominant hand, but, you know, it's like, that's different.

It feels different.

You take the same way to work every morning.

Take a different way.

It just feels a little bit different.

Maybe you're looking at ways a little bit more, trying to figure out where you're supposed to turn things like that.

That's rewiring.

That's making your brain function at a higher level.

That's where the learning comes from.

So what do you guys think of when you hear the G word now?

Well, the G word, for listeners who don't know is good, obviously, and it'll be the only time I say it, but it's a common word that we use in a daily life, whether, you know, we're doing great or we're not doing so great.

It's just kind of something that comes off the tongue as a average word.

And it's the enemy of great.

Yep.

And it kind of challenges you to expand your vocabulary a little bit.

You know, you don't just take the easy way out of, oh, how are you doing?

Oh, I'm doing good.

It's, like, planned.

Yes.

And it's not genuine, you know, because sometimes you're not.

You might be having a rough day, it might be having a great day, but to be able to kind of take it a step further and give somebody your actual feelings, I think that's.

That's huge.

It's been a challenge for me because it's really been like, one of those core words that, you know, you say all the time.

So it's like you hear it now, and it kind of grosses you out.

You're like, oh, wow.

Don't say that.

Yeah, no doubt.

I feel like you hear it a lot.

And if you do think about it, outside of the rewiring piece you did hit on it.

We're looking for some genuineness in responses of how you're doing.

But we're also trying to chase excellence and we're looking for greatness.

We're trying to achieve greatness.

Not always going to get there, but we're trying.

It's in the effort.

It's in the belief systems.

And the G word is not any of those things.

It's the middle of the road kind of thing.

There's nothing wrong with being the middle of the road.

But when your standards, your expectations are above that, above the middle of the road, then why use that word?

And it's been pretty interesting to watch.

We transitioned into if we heard it, then players started doing push ups.

And that started with just, well, if a coach was around.

But now that we're in the middle of our fall, that's one of those things where any given time you can see players holding each other accountable and somebody doing push ups, you know, in the dugout, on the bus, in, you know, the locker room, wherever it might be, you can see them in practice doing that.

So it's, it's.

I.

I really enjoy it.

Mainly because it's rewiring things.

Yeah.

And it shows a lot of accountability in the guys we do have.

Very true, Very true.

What have you guys learned since you've been here?

What stuck out to you guys?

Mental performance training.

I honestly think that it's what a lot of programs lack, especially in a game of failure itself.

You have to learn how to overcome that failure.

And I believe that you will never have success until you do learn to overcome that failure.

And I think that maybe it's lacking not because they don't understand it's important.

I think it's always talked about, like, you know, your belief system and, and how important it is to whatever you're doing.

I think, I think it's taught, you know, that it is important.

But it.

The biggest thing that I've learned along the journey is like, you've got to be able to show how to do it.

Yeah.

And the why is very well understood in mental performance training.

The how is very often misunderstood.

And I've talked about it whether it's a garden and with positive affirmations.

And if you have a garden that's full of weeds and you go out there and you close your eyes and you say, no more weeds, no More weeds, no more weeds, you know, and do some 5, 1, 7 breathing or something.

You open your eyes and the weeds are still there.

And it's, it's understanding the how to and the how really starts with consistency and with action.

And you have to take some action to get the weeds out of the garden.

And it doesn't, it doesn't happen by, in the first, the first time that you do it.

It doesn't happen in 30 seconds.

It takes some time to get all those weeds out of the garden.

And sometimes, just like a parallel for sports, sometimes it's not sunny in 75 when you're weeding that garden.

Right.

And sometimes it's raining or snowing and it makes it even more difficult.

And you've got to understand what the process is.

And once you're able to teach that and people grab onto it, they can use it for the rest of their lives.

Yeah.

And they can use it in any situation.

And having a belief system is by far the most important thing I believe that you can have because whether you think you can or you think you can't in anything, you most often are going to be right.

And if that belief system's high, you're more apt to put in action and usually massive action.

And when you put in massive action, what typically happens?

You get massive results.

Self fulfilling prophecy.

Yeah.

And then when you get massive results, it stacks back on that belief system and it just keeps going.

And for the most part, what we'll see when people haven't had the opportunity to learn from the mental side is the belief systems are, you know, middle of the road and they get middle of the road results and then they put in middle of the road action and it just keeps stacking on top.

So it's, it's really impactful and powerful to see for sure.

But all of it takes time.

I mean, we're in the middle of our fall at this point.

And so you guys are seeing some growth from it.

I'm seeing some growth from it, Coach Mo's seeing some growth from it.

But it still takes time.

It doesn't mean that you're going to win every game or you're going to hit every pitch or you're going to throw every ball for a strike and field every ball.

It doesn't mean that you're going to react positively when you're competing every time.

But what it does mean is that through consistency you're going to see some growth through that.

And the more that you work on it, the better that you're Going to become for when it's not sunny in 75.

And it's a great parallel for life because it's not always sunny in 75.

Yeah.

Not here in Michigan especially.

Absolutely.

What else have you guys learned?

Well, you touched on it517 breathing.

We kind of have that because it's the area code out here.

But it's originally 617 breathing and just six seconds in through the nose, hold for one seven seconds out.

Right.

And that's a big thing that can tunnel you actually to stay where you are.

And that's a big thing.

I preach to the pitching staff and the guys that we have on the team is stay where your feet are.

Right.

A lot of times we get too advanced or we get too behind on like what happened in the past or what's going to happen in the future.

But staying right where your feet are.

Toning yourself down.

I mean a lot of guys deal with anxiety in the game of baseball.

Deal with other things that can just help channel that.

With 617 breathing, that's solid stuff.

I do believe that I've heard for a long time with people are competing.

I've heard just breathe and understanding now, well everybody's breathing.

Otherwise we'd have a larger issue.

So that doesn't really work.

It's.

It's showing them how to.

And what the effects it of it is on calming the CNS system and how important it is to be able to bring the breathing is the one of those things that can bring you back to center or where your feet are quickly as long as you understand how to do it.

And it's your mind's always scanning so you're going to have those thoughts of what just happened or what could happen or what's going to happen next inning or what's going to happen tomorrow and you're going to have those there.

And it's understanding how to bring yourself back out of those thoughts to what's most important, which is right now.

And we have a lot of distractions, whether it's our phones or just the amount of people that are trying to talk to us in a practice or you watch watch the position players play catch.

At times there's they're more interested in talking.

And so it's teaching through that kind of stuff like this is what.

What do we want to be intentional with.

Right.

And what's most important and teaching our student athletes to be able to take that backpack that they have from that day, whether it's a flat tire, a sick parent, homesickness financial whatever it might be that's in their backpack when they come to practice and leave it on the picnic table and go to practice.

And unfortunately that backpack is still going to be there when they're done for that day.

But if they can leave it for a little bit, it can become a distraction for them.

And in a positive way, if they carry that backpack into practice or a game, it'll become a distraction for them in a negative way and you're going to see less results from them and less of them reaching their fullest greatness.

Yeah, right.

Kind of like having that backpack.

You're already having a bad event happen and then you're going to take it into the game of baseball, might have a bad at bat or a bad outing because of that.

Now it's two for one, just snowballs from there.

You see that at the professional level.

You see it at the little league level.

You see it in basketball, you see it in all the sports.

They're carrying stuff from what just happened.

You see it in positive ways, how people get hot, you know, Freddie Freeman, that kind of stuff where people get really hot.

And you see it in a negative way where people are not.

Aaron Judge.

We're near the world, we're in the World Series at this point of the recording.

So you see it and it's.

You just can't close your eyes and have somebody tell you to breathe because you're already doing that and the weeds are not going to leave your garden.

So it's a process.

Anything else that sticks out to you guys?

I think one of the biggest things that I've learned since being here is sometimes the best way to coach a player is to let them figure it out.

Being a young coach my first couple of years, I kind of fell into the habit of over coaching players and I think that's one of the, one of the best things that I've taken away in my short time here so far is just if a player is struggling, the best thing that you can do is let them figure it out because you're not always going to be there to help them figure it out.

So like hitting, for instance, sometimes we're in the cage and we're swinging the skinny bat and we're shooting ateq balls at them and they're struggling.

But you know, the best thing you can do is just encourage them and keep them moving forward and let them figure it out on their own.

Yeah, it's basically what we do here is constraints based training for most of the stuff that we do.

And those constraints are put in place for a reason, and we want them to self organize through those constraints.

And it's not that we don't coach, because you guys are doing a lot of coaching, but there are certain times where you don't need somebody telling you what to do.

You've got to figure out how you get the ball to said target, how you get the barrel to the ball, whether it's a skinny bat or it's a light flight or it's a machine that's pumping 105 at you.

Right.

You know, we have an eye pitch, and that's pretty incredible too, because we're able to show our hitters what Shohei Ohtani looks like on the mound or what somebody that's throwing 65 miles an hour looks like, what they call those crafty lefties.

You know, we're able to show them, you know, all these different things, and we can switch pitches in about two seconds, you know, so it's, it's, it's.

Yeah, I agree.

It's.

It's pretty incredible stuff.

Juco baseball.

I mean, you guys have all been a part of juco baseball.

Why is juco baseball different?

I think it's a second chance for a lot of the guys.

Okay.

Whether they didn't have the grades out of high school or whether they wanted to come here and bet on themselves because they didn't have the offers.

It still shows that you have a timeframe to get the job done and still chase after your dreams.

And the competition isn't a slack, by all means.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I kind of.

I would agree with that.

I kind of fell into that boat out of high school.

You know, growing up, everybody's dream is to go and play in the MLB and, you know, don't really realize it until later on, but you're like, well, I'm 5 foot 8, 5 foot 9.

You've stacked enough bricks.

Yeah.

And I haven't put in enough work to get to that point.

So, you know, juco kind of gives you an opportunity to go and learn and continue growing and continue evolving.

So I think the cool thing about juco, too, is you really form a brotherhood with your teammates.

You know, it's.

It's not always the prettiest picture.

You're.

You kind of got to struggle through and figure out, like, what type of player you are.

And I think that's.

That's the beauty in it.

You got to find the beauty and the struggle of it.

I love it, too, because, you know, sometimes freshmen and sophomores go into that big D one that they've always had high hopes and aspirations to play at, and they might be behind a guy for two to three years.

At juco, you have a chance to come in, immediately, play.

It's always a revolving roster.

You have a chance to prove yourself each and every year.

And by the time, you know, say that D1 does come knocking on your door, whatever school level it might be, you're already toned.

You have two, maybe three years under your belt of actual playing experience, which puts you.

Puts you above the guys coming right out of high school.

Immediately JUCO baseball in general, and I'm not just speaking for.

For the stars, but JUCO and baseball in general is growing with talent rates and in all that stuff.

And it's because of the roster limits at the Division 1 level and the portal and all that.

And it's become a huge breeding ground for some incredible talent that is going places for one season or two seasons to get the experience that they might not get.

You know, coming in and being behind a junior or senior that has more talent, has more experience, is a little more refined.

You know, all those things.

So JUCO baseball, the talent levels have just gone through the roof.

And if you look at our team, we have a big, strong team that looks like they're juniors and seniors in college, and they're not.

They're freshmen and sophomores, you know, so it's changed immensely.

I really appreciate you guys coming on the show and sharing just a little bit about our program and what your experiences have been.

I also really appreciate just having you guys here.

You both model a growth mindset.

You both show up on a daily basis trying to make things better.

You both are very intrinsically motivated, which is extremely important in life.

And you are great examples and models for what we want our student athletes to be.

So thank you so much for coming in today.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Some final thoughts here.

Make winning in life your habit, not your goal.

Excellence is a practice, not a prize.

Build great habits and practices that serve you so you can serve others.

Enjoy the small moments in life as they go by in a blink of an eye.

Until next time, thank you to all of our listeners.

We are all playing a game we can't win, so why not play it to the utmost?

Go all in and go Stars Coach Cutscorner is recorded live in the WLNZ Studios.

Engineering and production assistance are provided by Dadalion Lowry.

Thanks for listening and if you enjoyed today's podcast, please share it and follow us on all the platforms of social media.

You can find more about our program@lccstars.com and donations to our baseball program can be made at the same site.

See you next time.

Push the limits so it all can see Become the champion you always dream.

To be.

Down on the victory line.